Shivani Thakur
Published on: April 30, 2022 at 14:42 IST
The Technical Committee constituted by Supreme Court in the Pegasus Spyware case has asked all state Director Generals of Police (DGPs) to inform it whether they have procured the software from Israel’s NSO Group.
“Did any state, state police, state intelligence or agency in the state/union territory of the government having access to Pegasus spyware use this on any citizen of India? If so, whether any permission/s or sanction/s for such use was obtained and if so from whom,” the Secretary General of the Supreme Court has asked all the DGPs.
To examine allegations that the Government used Israeli Spyware Pegasus to snoop on the phones of Indian Ministers, Politicians, Activists, Businessmen and Journalists, the Supreme Court appointed an independent expert technical committee.
The technical committee is investigating whether the Pegasus suite of Spyware was used to access data stored on the phones or other devices of citizens of India, listen in on conversations, intercept information and any other purpose.
The Andhra Pradesh Assembly last month passed a resolution to set up a committee to find out if the Chandrababu Naidu Government bought and used Pegasus on its political opponents.
The Pegasus row erupted in July 2021 after media outlets and an international consortium of investigative journalists reported that the phones of Indian was targeted by hacking Software from NSO Group.
Responding to a bunch of Petitions filed, the Centre instead offered to set up an expert Committee to look into the controversy and “Dispel any wrong narrative spread by certain vested interests”.
